Using MDT and SCCM to do an unattended install of Windows XP on ESX Server (1 of 2)

This post describes how to add VMware ESX drivers for an "OS Install Package" (aka "an unattended install") of Windows XP using MDT and SCCM.

The important point to note is that MDT can now handle "injection" of Mass Storage Drivers on Windows XP (not just Vista)
(i.e. it writes the correct entries to unattend.txt to support use of a 3rd party Mass Storage drivers, creates and populates the requires driver structure for this to work during an unattended install).

IMHO this is a "big deal" and means it's well worth investing time in understanding the "vagaries" of MDT and SCCM as it really can simplify OS deployment (once you know how to use it!)

Prerequites / Assumptions

• A working SCCM environment with MDT Update1 applied (if you don't have this read MDT and SCCM - How to get started)
• A task sequence setup to "Create a new OS install package" and pointing to source files for Windows XP (the "Client Task Sequence" from MDT will do)
• Driver Files for VMware ESX server (if you dont have these read "How to get drivers for an unattended install of Windows XP on ESX Server"
• In my example, the "source" folder (i.e where sources files such as drivers, OS files etc are held) is shared as Source$
• "Microsoft Windows XP (32-bit)" has been selected as the Guest Operating System Type for the Virtual Machine

Overview of Steps

• Import (VMWare) drivers into SCCM
• Create a new (VMWare) driver package
• Add these drivers to your WinPE Boot Image
• Edit the Task Sequence and add an "Apply Driver Package" Task (referring to the VMWare drivers package).
• Enable the checkbox "Select the mass storage driver within the package that needs to be installed before setup on Pre-Vista operating Systems"
  (NOTE - the last two steps are the crucial pieces which make the "magic" happen)
  

Import (VMWare) drivers
Within the Operating System Deployment node in SCCM.
Right click on Drivers and Select "Import"

Point to the location where you've placed the VMWare driver files.
In my case I've stored driver files below file://sccm/Source$/drivers/vmware\Source$\drivers\vmware
(below this I have 2 subdirectories - \vmscsi - with the disk files and \vmxnet with the network drivers - these were obtained using the process descrived here)

The driver files should appear as shown below:


Create a new (VMWare) driver package

I've called my driver package "VMWare ESX"

Now select this as the package you want to add drivers to

Add drivers to the WinPE Boot Image

Select a Windows PE boot image to update (mine is called "Windows PE Custom")

Ready to let SCCM do it's stuff...

Progress is shown while it's being created...

Done - the drivers were imported, added to a new Driver package and the WinPE boot image was updated.

This is what the drivers looks like within the "Drivers" node.
(tip: in order for these to show up with SCCM you may need to select "Refresh")

and here's the new Driver Package we created...

Now for the really important piece (which needs to be manually added)

Edit the Task Sequence and Add an "Apply Driver Package" task

To inject a mass storage driver for Windows XP during the unattended install routine, you need to Add an "Apply Driver Package" task (pointing to the newly created VMWare drivers package). This must be added before the "Setup Windows and ConfigMgr" task.

To do this :

• Edit your OS deployment Task Sequence
• Set focus on a task immediately before the "Setup Windows and ConfigMgr" task.
  (In the screenshot below you can see I've focussed on "Auto Apply Drivers")
• Select Add -> Drivers -> "Apply Driver Package"

Browse to the Package with the Drivers (in my example "VMWare ESX")

Enable the "Select mass storage driver..." checkbox

IMPORTANT
Select the box which says "Select the mass storage driver within the package that needs to be installed before setup on Pre-Vista operating systems"

(This takes care of driver injection during the unattended phase)

I'll describe what actually happens during the unattended install process and show the modified contents of unattend.txt and associated driver strucure in Part 2 of this post.

MDT and SCCM - How to get started

I'll be making a series of posts about:

• Microsoft Deployment Tookit (MDT) 2008
  and
• System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) 2007

One of the first things anyone wishing to learn about these technologies will want to do is setup a lab environment.
The sheer number of components and dependancies can make this a daunting task!

Quick Start Guide
The best reference I've found on how to do this is "Quick_Start_Guide_for_Configuration_Manager_2007.doc"
This can be found within "Getting Started with MDT 2008 Update 1.zip" available in the download area for "Microsoft Deployment Toolkit Update (MDT) 2008 Update 1".

The doc contains information on:

• Pre-requisities (Software and Infrastructure)
• How to setup the pre-requisite Infrastructure
• Preparing the MDT Environment
• Importing and Creating a Task Sequence to Create a Reference machine
• Deploying Vista and capturing an image of a Reference Machine
• Importing and Configuring a Task Sequence to Deploy a Target Computer
• Deploying a Captured Image from a Reference computer onto a Target computer

This doc is ESSENTIAL reading as a first step.

Personal Observations on the Document

Sadly the document dosn't contain pictures, is lengthy (48 pages), and despite containing individual steps, is (IMHO) not easy to follow.

I'm a huge fan of pictures (to quote a cliche "a picture paints a thousand words") and am convinved it's possible to convey this (vital) information in a much more "digestable" form. However (for now), trawling through this doc seems unavoidable to achieve a working environment and understand the "intricacies" of MDT and SCCM "integration".